Last summer, my lawn was covered in brown spots from my dog urinating on it. Are there supplements or a special diet I can give her so that doesn't happen?
G.B., via Facebook
Because female dogs deposit a lot of urine in one concentrated spot compared with male dogs, who usually leave small amounts of urine in a number of locations, this tends to be more a problem with females than males.
Unfortunately, supplements or medications that change the pH of urine aren't going to help, because that's not what makes the grass brown. Urine has a lot of nitrogen in it. In small, dilute amounts, nitrogen is a fertilizer. When it's too concentrated, though, it will "burn" the grass. In fact, you might have noticed that around the edges of the brown spot, there is a ring of very green, lush grass. That's due to the more diluted urine at the edges of the spot where the dog urinated.
There are only two main solutions. The first is to dilute the urine so it isn't so concentrated, either in the bladder or on the lawn.
Some suggestions, such as giving the dog tomato juice, are thought to work by increasing the sodium in the diet, stimulating thirst, and thus diluting the urine right in the bladder. This isn't a good idea, as high- sodium diets can make some health problems worse.
A better method of diluting the urine is to pour a gallon or so of water directly on the spot where your dog urinates.
The second solution is to train your dog to urinate elsewhere. This requires taking her to a specified area of your property, waiting until she urinates there, and rewarding and praising her. Don't give her any opportunity to urinate anywhere else for a couple of weeks, and she should get the idea from then on.
Gina Spadafori
Go a size bigger for a bird's cage
Read more:
Pet Connection Q&A: How to eliminate brown grass spots
